Eramiha Neke Kapua (c.1875–7 July 1955) was a New Zealand carver, tohunga and farmer. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent, he identified with the

Ngāti Tarāwhai Ngāti Tarāwhai is a Māori iwi of the Rotorua area of New Zealand, and a member of the Te Arawa confederation of tribes. The iwi's rohe (tribal area) covers the western shore of Lake Ōkataina. The tribe's carving has been noted historically ...

and

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

. He was born in Ruato, Lake Rotoiti,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

circa 1875. His father was Neke Kapua, a carver, and his mother was Mereana Waitere, the elder sister of

Tene Waitere Tene Waitere (1853–1931) was a notable New Zealand Māori carver from the Rotorua district. He identified with the Ngāti Tarāwhai and Te Arawa iwi. His mother was Ani Pape, the daughter of Te Rāhui, a Ngāti Tarāwhai leader. As a young g ...

, another carver. Kapua was commissioned to create carvings for the model village at

Whakarewarewa Whakarewarewa (reduced version of Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao, meaning ''The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao'', often abbreviated to Whaka by locals) is a Rotorua semi-rural geothermal area in the Taupo Volcanic ...

, as well as the New Zealand International Exhibition of 1906 in Christchurch.

References

1870s births 1955 deaths Ngāti Tarāwhai people Te Arawa people New Zealand Māori farmers 19th-century New Zealand farmers 20th-century New Zealand farmers New Zealand Māori carvers Tohunga {{NewZealand-artist-stub